If money could buy a championship, the Los Angeles Dodgers already would have been fitted for rings.

Since last season’s ownership change, they have thrown around more money than a billionaire in Vegas. After signing Zack Greinke to a six-year, $147 million deal to be the No. 2 starter, they had committed more than $550 million on new players’ salaries. How sound these investments prove to be will determined in the coming months.

With the likes of Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez on their roster, the Dodgers are expected to win big. (AP Photo)

So far, all the Dodgers have accomplished is knocking the New York Yankees out of the No. 1 spot in the economic food chain. The Dodgers’ payroll is expected to be $230 million by opening day. The mega-spending also has created Yankee-like expectations in Southern California. As manager Don Mattingly told Yahoo! Sports in December, “We’re supposed to win. There it is. If we lose, we’re failures.”

No fewer than eight players who began last season with another club are projected for the Dodgers’ opening-day roster this season. Such change isn’t unusual. That five of the newcomers will earn at least $15.5 million this season doesn’t make this your typical turnover, though.

Of the team’s newest players, only Adrian Gonzalez and Greinke are coming off seasons remotely worthy of a raise. Hanley Ramirez still hasn’t shown he can be the player he was three years ago, but his performance still exceeded those of Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford.

Even after their blockbuster deal with the Boston Red Sox last August, the Dodgers fell short of the playoffs. Having to develop team chemistry on the fly made a convenient excuse then. It won’t this year with the club together from the start of spring training.

“Last year, it was like, ‘OK, we got all of these guys together. Let’s see if we can get it to work out,’ ” Mattingly says. “It took us awhile, honestly. Until like the last 10, 12 days, we didn’t really play that well.”

Local TV revenue is the main reason behind the Dodgers’ soaring spending potential, which has allowed the franchise to more than double its 2012 payroll. When the deal kicks in, the Dodgers will receive in the neighborhood of $250 million a year. That will buy a ton of talent, and maybe even a championship.